The everyday adventures of our homeschool according to The Chemist, wife to The Historian for 20 years and mother of The Crafter (dd 14), Wild Thing (ds 10) and Princess Pink (dd 8).

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Happy Birthday Wild Thing!

Warning: Birth Story to follow.

It was about 5:00am December 27, 2003 when the contractions started. The Historian and the Crafter were asleep. I got up and started timing. Every 8 minutes, give or take. I called my mom so she could get ready to come. I called the hospital. They tried to convince me that I wasn't in labor, but what do they know. I puttered around making sure everything was as ready as it could be. I called my neighbor to tell her the Crafter would be there soon. I woke the Historian. We put the Crafter in the car and dropped her off at our neighbor's house.

We get to the hospital around 7:00am. The Saturday after Christmas is not a good time to have a baby. The nurse kept telling me that I might get sent home if I wasn't dilated enough, never mind that the contractions were now 4 minutes apart. I go to my room, undress, and await getting checked. The nurse checks me and then says "I'll be right back" Not a promising sign. Two minutes later the nurse comes back with an ultrasound machine, my midwife, and her supervising OB. Not good signs either. The doctor does a quick ultrasound. "The baby is butt down. You have to have a C-section. You are only 4cm dilated, so there's no rush. You and the baby are doing fine." Exit OB. My midwife apologizes because she was sure the baby was head down at my last appointment.

So we wait. The contractions are getting stronger. My water breaks and the contractions are now every 2 minutes. Now I can stand a fair amount of pain, especially when there's a purpose, but since the contractions are not required for this birth and I'm supposed to be getting a full spinal block, I don't want to feel them. Two hours from the time of the "butt down" announcement I'm begging the Historian to make them give me drugs.

The medical team finally gets its act together and I go into surgery. Wild Thing came into the world at 10:30 am screaming and peeing. Some things haven't changed.

Wild Thing is a source of unspeakably joy, frustration, laughter, and tears. He keeps me humble and on my knees.